Electronic and Electrical Engineering Books

[Smithy49]

Hi all,

this is my first real post here, so my apologies if this is in the wrong forum.

I've read a few books on the basics of electronics, mainly books from Banabi, as well as a few others, but nothing too serious. Anyway, I was wondering if anyone could recommend so good literature for someone who is wanting to 'read up' a level from the introduction type of books - without going too deep or complex at the moment.

However, if anyone can also recommend some interesting books on electronic and electrical engineering, I'd be really grateful.

Which brings me onto my final question - what's the difference between studying electronics, and studying electronic and electrical engineering?

Thanks for your time,

S

 

[daddles]

There are some free self-teaching resources here. I strongly recommend you master the lab exercises, as reading about electronics is kinda like reading a sex manual -- it's a hell of a lot different when you try to do it for real... In other words, an amazing amount of your understanding comes from actually trying to build things and figure out why they don't work (kinda like sex too in that way ).

A good book to get your hands on is "Art of Electronics". While it's getting a bit dated with respect to the parts used, the basic material and principles will never change and it's a book worth having.

The engineering part of electronics gets you exposed to some of the mathematical and physical tools necessary to do good design work. Sometimes you can use the theoretical stuff to help you evaluate a particular design approach -- these exercises can help you decide whether a particular approach is worth pursuing. An example would be using Maxwell's equations to estimate the magnitude of an induced voltage in a circuit you were designing. If you didn't have the theoretical background, you might have to waste time building a bunch of prototypes to answer the question first. Your theoretical knowledge can also help you weed out approaches that aren't worth trying.

Clearly, you don't have to have this theoretical background to do work in electronics, but it can prove advantageous in some situations. It can also help you read the literature and leverage other peoples' knowledge.

 

[Smithy49]

Thanks for the reply Daddles!

I agree with what you say about having to do practicals to get a good understanding (how many times have I created a working circuit on the computer - only to have it fail on me when I create it in real life lol!?!?).

I'll have a search for The Art of Electronics, it'll probably been on Amazon.

The reason I'm asking for literature, is that for me it's a bit easier to sit in bed on a late night or something and read a book about the subject - rather than waiting around for a month whilst Maplins or other shop get the components I want for an experimental circuit!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So, just to clarify what you're saying, electronic engineering is a more theoretical course - more maths and physics than working with components?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks again